“Many consider conservation as a matter of only the biological sciences. I say rubbish – it’s political.”
Thus, an hour into the first round of technical sessions, panelist Edmund Barrow of the IUCN framed the entire context surrounding the 2013 Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) in Warsaw, Poland.
Also in Warsaw, in a move described as ‘baffling’, negotiators at the parallel meeting of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) decided to block agriculture from being included in The COP19 climate talks. The move is distressing, especially when set against the positive energy and emphasis on action that characterizes this weekend’s GLF.
Thus, when discussion at the GLF led to how to build the capacity of people and communities to express their needs to policy-makers, Barrow explained his view of the process in clear terms:
“[It’s] messy. Dirty. Political. Many of us don’t like engaging with it. But it is something we need to do.”
At the GLF, food security and natural resource management experts have come under one roof to discuss how to feed more with less without destroying the planet. A glance at the two-day agenda gives sufficient sense of the all-hands, multi-disciplinary nature of the forum’s unifying theme: an integrated landscapes approach. Sessions range in topic from governance and finance to capacity-building, providing a unique platform for scientists, communicators, managers, and youth to come together in the same place. Their discussions, enriched by the combination of their multiple perspectives, are the key to achieving concrete outcomes and innovative partnerships.
GLF participants have come together to collaborate in search of a sustainable and secure future for our planet. As an infographic by Farming First explains, agriculture as a sector is a major contributor of emissions. Nevertheless, it also has more net potential for mitigation benefits than any other sector. To apply climate-smart technologies and practices is one of the principal goals of the landscapes approach.
The 189 countries also gathered in Warsaw for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 19th Conference of the Parties (COP19) have as their primary task to achieve an outcome the whole world is waiting for: a comprehensive global climate agreement. Those at GLF know of the urgency of including agriculture in climate change discussions. In their collective action – brought to a head by their meeting in Warsaw – they have sought to let negotiators know this, too.
However, this still hasn’t been enough. Despite the number of scientists and professionals that have combined their resources to provide invaluable evidence-based knowledge, and despite the consistent push for acknowledgement from agricultural stakeholders, agriculture has not made it onto the table.
The news of agriculture’s omission – yet again – from the climate discussion, however infuriating it may be, does serve some purpose. The decision is a reality check, and a lesson for the organizations and institutions by the more than 1,000 GLF participants.
Even with strategic and sophisticated efforts to inform decision-makers through collaborative means, the GLF did not reach its primary objective this year. At the end of the day, the mess and the politics still remain as a reminder of the enormity of the challenges that lie ahead. As panelist Barrow suggested, it is no longer an option for actors in research and implementation to refrain from engaging with that reality.
Rachel Kyte, “Climate Warrior” and VP of Sustainable Development at the World Bank, said in her opening plenary remarks that the world must not take a “disjointed, discombobulated dance” approach to achieving a triple win for food, environment, and people. Her challenge to us: “do whatever we can to sit down with negotiators and explain to them what science is showing.”
Moving forward, organizations must seek solutions that are creative, innovative, and founded in partnership. The GLF, a successful event despite the blemish of political failure, is a good place to start.
Blog by Kari Wozniak, Communications Manager for the ADM Institute for the Prevention of Postharvest Loss and social reporter for GLF 2013.
Photo: C. Schubert (CCAFS)
